some long due results.
Timo Bernhard used a strong restart to pull away from Bryan Herta on Saturday and then withstood a furious charge from the Andretti Green Racing driver to give Penske Motorsports a hard-earned victory in the Lone Star Grand Prix. It was the team's second straight overall victory in the American Le Mans Series and third in the past year.
Bernhard and Romain Dumas won on a street course for the second straight week in their Porsche RS Spyder. Herta brought the Andretti Green Racing Acura ARX home second with Marino Franchitti, just 0.49 seconds behind Bernhard as LMP2 cars took the top two spots.
Dumas and Bernhard were forced to retire last year with a drivetrain problem after Dumas qualified on the overall front row and led for most of the early going.
"Last year we led the race here and had a technical problem. We were thinking it would be different this week," Dumas said. "Timo wasn't too sure at first but I think he likes it now. It's really great and it's a big deal. Before the race we knew that the car was quick but we have to think about the championship for the class and not overall wins."
Following a spin by Jim Tafel's Porsche and the subsequent caution, Bernhard jumped out to a 5.9-second lead with 30 minutes remaining. Herta cut the gap to under a second with eight minutes to go but ran out of time and laps at the end.
"The last 30 minutes were the toughest of my life," Bernhard said. "I knew I had to push really hard on the restart and gained about 6 seconds. I thought I could ease up but when we caught traffic, Bryan caught back up to me. Then I got caught in more traffic. Nothing is predictable there. In this kind of racing, you have to be focused all the time."
"It was exciting," said Herta, who finished second overall and won in LMP2 with Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan at Sebring. "I was looking for some traffic to help me get up to the Porsche. It would have been more fun if I had won. This car is so good. This is only its fourth race but it's incredible."
Rinaldo Capello was third overall and first in LMP1 for Audi Sport North America in the Audi R10 TDI. Capello finished 1.341 seconds behind Bernhard and won in class for the third straight event with Allan McNish. Sascha Maassen was third in LMP2 and fourth overall in the other Penske Porsche.
Capello was in position for the overall win until a pair of unfortunate events set him back. First was a punctured left front tire near the one-hour mark. He gained ground and was running third overall until he drove through Turn 6 following contact with a GT2 Porsche. But the late yellow was just what he needed to get back in contention.
"For all practical purposes that put us out of the race," McNish said. "But he drove fantastically to get us close to the two leading cars at the end. It was a very good race with four cars fighting for the lead in the end."
"It was unfortunate to get a puncture," Capello said. "I then lost time when I overshot. I went over a big bump lapping a backmarker and we touched. I just couldn't stop. I did my very best to catch the leaders which I managed but just ran out of time to get in front."
The diesel-powered prototype remained unbeaten in LMP1 but has lost two straight overall races following nine straight to start its Series career last season at Sebring. With the Series returning to a road course in May at Miller Motorsports Park, both drivers are eager to start a new streak for the Audi.
"Miller is something along the line of what the car was designed for," McNish said. "We've been competitive enough to win at two of the street courses. I think we'll be strong in the rest of the season but so will the competition. We have to keep our minds on the job."
In GT1, Corvette Racing's Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen ended the three-race win streak of teammates Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta for their first victory together since Mosport in 1999 as part of a Panoz factory prototype effort.
"You have to tip your hat to our engineer," O'Connell said. "We went the wrong way before qualifying and then changed it significantly and I was able to turn laps faster than in qualifying. I had amazingly good in laps and a great out lap. It was enough to get us out front. We've had so much rotten luck with the 3 car and I'm glad to get this win."
Magnussen took the checkered flag 50 seconds ahead of the other Corvette. It marked a breakthrough for a No. 3 crew that has been right on the heels of the sister car for much of the early season. Magnussen never felt secure as darkness fell in the closing moments.
"When we had the safety car, we had almost a lap lead on the other car and it was a matter of just staying out of trouble," Magnussen said. "When it's dark, all you see is headlights and you don't know how far behind the other cars are."
Jaime Melo and Mika Salo won for the fourth consecutive event of 2007 for Risi Competizione and Ferrari. The duo gave the Houston-based Risi squad a 6.4-second win over Johannes van Overbeek and Jörg Bergmeister in the Flying Lizard Porsche, which recorded its third runner-up finish of the season.
Salo lost the lead on the late caution in the pits but regained the advantage two laps after the race went back to green."The car was so good and so easy to drive," Salo said. "I couldn't believe it. We were a lap away from our scheduled stop when the safety car came out. I had wanted to keep the same tires but we decided to go ahead and change the tires. There was something wrong with the pit stop and we lost the lead. But I saw (van Overbeek) had a little problem with his tires because he was sliding around. I was able to catch him and pass him quite easily."
Melo opened with a strong stint that built a nearly 30-second lead before he handed off to Salo past the one-hour mark. In taking the checkered flag, Salo won his fifth consecutive GT2 race to set a class record. He and Melo have now won six straight events as a duo dating back to Salt Lake City last season.
"The car was really good and consistent," Melo said. "I just left the car to Mika and he did a great job overtaking the Porsche. We're focusing and looking for our next one in Utah."
A gamble on fuel paid off Saturday for Penske Motorsports as Ryan Briscoe and Sascha Maassen gave the team and Porsche its third straight overall victory in the American Le Mans Series with a 10-second victory over Audi's Allan McNish in the Utah Grand Prix at Miller Motorsports Park.
The Penske team stretched its final fuel load while Briscoe took the lead with 40 minutes to go when McNish pitted his diesel-powered Audi R10 TDI for a final splash. The Aussie drove the final 75 minutes on a single set of tires and tank of fuel. The sister Porsche RS Spyder LMP2 of Timo Bernhard and Romain Dumas won overall at Long Beach and Houston.
Maassen was one of six cars to pit at the 18-minute mark following an early caution period when the No. 22 Panoz Team PTG Panoz Esperante GTLM became stranded on the circuit. Roger Penske's call set up the strategy for the car to make just one more stop over the remaining distance.
"The gas was a bit of concern but the engineers in the box told me what number to conserve to and they were working with me on that," said Briscoe, who scored his second career class win. "On my second lap of the stint I was saving a lot of fuel. They kept me updated as we were going. We knew we at least had the second place buffer. After the first yellow Roger called the best strategy which put us in the right place."
Maassen started from the outside front row but dropped back to ninth on a frantic restart. Emanuele Pirro jumped from eighth at the start to the race lead as the field was four-wide going into the first turn. Maassen didn't have the momentum of the Audi and decided not to take a risk early.
"One of the Dyson Porsches got to the side and I had to let up," Maassen said. "I could have closed the door but thought I had the best car and I knew this race was two hours and 45 minutes. I could make up the time not doing anything in the first corner.
In the end, his patience paid off. It wasn't without its moments however, as Maassen was unsure Briscoe could make it to the race's end without a stop.
"I didn't know we only needed to go one more stop when I came in," he said. "I think we could have won with a splash and dash but Roger wanted to play safe. That's the best thing to do in an endurance race."
McNish and Rinaldo Capello won their fourth straight race in LMP1 to extend their championship lead. They were almost two minutes clear of Audi mates Emanuele Pirro and Marco Werner.
Capello qualified on the class pole but started from the back row after the team changed its qualifying tires. The Italian worked his way up to second overall following the restart, trailing only Pirro.
It was quite a contrast to qualifying when McNish was a full three seconds behind the pole-sitting Porsches. The crew made some adjustments to the dampers, which moderately helped, Capello said.
"The pace we could keep after the start was quite hard," he said. "If you see our times for the race and from the qualifications, it was only a two-second difference, and it was a bit more for the P2s. If it wasn't for the extra pit stop we would have been very safe. It's a shame to lose this way."
There's no time to linger, though, with the 24 Hours of Le Mans on the horizon. The R10 TDI won in its debut at La Sarthe last year, and the Peugeot diesel will provide the stiffest challenge.
"We knew the Porsche was in a good spot and we were a bit back," McNish said. "That was it. We get the best out of the car and we tried to get in the proper position from the last start. We've done everything for Le Mans."
Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta came from the rear of the field to win GT1 by 26 seconds in their Corvette Racing Corvette C6.R. Gavin qualified on the class pole but, like the Audi, had to change tires before the race following a spin in Friday's qualifying session.
Gavin had a storming opening stint, and the team's pit crew helped assure the class win with flawless execution. The sister car of Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen finished second as Gavin and Beretta rebounded from a runner-up finish at Houston.
"It's good to be back," Gavin said. "It's a great track and we enjoyed it today, especially after Houston. There was quite a melee in the first corner with cars going off the track, and I was trying to be very careful because the last thing I wanted to do was damage the car."
Like Audi, Le Mans is next up for Corvette Racing. Gavin and Beretta have won the last three GT1 titles at La Sarthe.
"It was a very important day for us because it was the last practice before Le Mans," said Beretta who won his 32nd career Series race. "We had to finish with the car in one piece because it will fly to France in a few days. We want the mechanics to be well rested because they've done a fantastic job since the start of the season. We went through three street races without any accidents and now we've completed a successful Michelin tire test. We are ready to go to the big one now."
The storybook weekend for Tomas Enge and Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing ended in the best possible way as the team scored its first GT2 victory since Petit Le Mans last September and the first in its Ferrari F430 GT.
Enge teamed with Darren Turner for the victory, which was a repeat from 2006 of sorts. The two won in GT1 for Aston Martin Racing last season, and they posted a one-lap victory Saturday over the Flying Lizard Porsche of Johannes van Overbeek and Jörg Bergmeister.
"It's always fun to drive with Tomas," Turner said. "That relationship was how I became involved with the team. After driving a GT1 car for so long, it takes awhile to adapt. Every lap you learn something new around this track."
Enge's story is an incredible one. He suffered numerous injuries at St. Petersburg nearly two months ago including a shattered left elbow, broken ribs and a punctured lung. He returned to the Ferrari last weekend in a test session at Miller.
"Obviously we had a strategy for me to do one stint and then have Darren finish the race," Enge said. "I didn't feel in good enough condition to do more than one stint. This is a fantastic car to drive that allows you to drive and just pull away. I was a bit worried about how I would do if I made any mistakes since I haven't run in so long. Everything worked so smoothly and it's great to be back in the Series."
The win by Enge and Turner snapped a five-race winning streak for Risi Competizione and its Ferrari. The championship-leading car of Jaime Melo and Mika Salo broke a driveshaft with a little more than an hour to go. It was a crippling result as the car failed to complete 70 percent of the overall winner's laps to receive points.
The two still lead the championship over Bergmeister and van Overbeek. Tafel Racing's Robin Liddell and Wolf Henzler finished third in their Porsche.
No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team Porsche Crawford co-drivers Jörg Bergmeister and Patrick Long helped establish a new Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve record by becoming the fifth different winners in five races to start the season in Sunday's U.S. Sports Car Invitational delivered by Luggage Express at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Bergmeister claimed the lead from Jon Fogarty with 32 laps remaining when Fogarty brought the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley onto pit lane for its final pit stop and to turn the car over to co-driver Alex Gurney. With the second, third and fourth place cars filling his mirrors throughout the closing laps, however, Bergmeister was forced to conserve fuel in order to make it to the finish.
Bergmeister's big break came on Lap 89 of the 91-lap race, when Matthew Alhadeff brought out the day's seventh and final full-course caution period when he slid the No. 05 Luggage Express Team Sigalsport BMW Riley into the gravel trap at Turn 4. However, there were still a few nervous moments for the team as Bergmeister still had to make it to the finish line without running out of fuel, but the German did just that to make it five winners in five races, topping the previous record of four to start the 2004 season.
"We were rolling the dice," Bergmeister said. "I really don't know how much fuel we had left in the car. I got a low fuel warning on the white flag lap, and I was pretty sure we were going to make it there. When I knew it was going to be about six minutes left, I thought, 'Wow, this is going to be close.' But it worked out well, even on the last restart. I was really lean on the fuel, and trying to conserve as much as I could. We had great strategy today and we really needed this. We've had such a tough start to the season, and it's good to be back."
It was the first win for the No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team since Long and Mike Rockenfeller took the victory in last year's VIR 400. It was also Bergmeister's first win since the 2006 event at Barber Motorsports Park, the last of three wins he scored en route to the Daytona Prototype title. The victory tops the team's previous best 2007 result of fifth at Mexico City in March.
"It feels great, personally and for the team," Long said. "It's been one of the most humbling 12 months of our own careers, but that's what makes it all the much sweeter. We needed a little bit of luck from the racing gods today on the fuel strategy. I don't know if I can stomach many more of those races. I'm still a little tranquilized by that one. It was good. We had a car that could race all weekend, and that's the first time we felt consistently up there in all the sessions this weekend, so that's a positive thing. It's guys like those on the Ganassi team that make us work that much harder, and again, it's a humbling experience after all the adversity we've been through. It's great to be back up here, and hopefully we can carry the momentum into this rest of this season and race with these guys week in and week out."
A second-place result in the No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley for 2004 Daytona Prototype co-champion Scott Pruett coupled with a 15th-place performance by No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley co-drivers Jan Magnussen and Max Angelelli moved Pruett back atop the Daytona Prototype point standings by five points, 148-143, over Angelelli and Magnussen. Pruett led one lap as the last pit stop sequence played itself out and kept the pressure on Bergmeister throughout the closing stages, but wound up second with co-driver Memo Rojas.
"We heard about (the No. 23 team's) fuel situation, and that was more their concern," Pruett said. "Unfortunately, there was a car that got off and it was good for them and not for us. Most of all, we were looking at gaining points on them, so I wasn't going to do anything risky. This is a very difficult track to pass on. The Ganassi guys, we always work on the car, making it good on tires that are very old, and on the second stop, we didn't take tires. We had good passes, but they were scraping and it was close, and you can't afford to take some of those chances sometimes. It'll just kill your day. You've got to be extremely careful about passing here, but the TELMEX car ran very well, and we're glad to be back here and come away with the lead in the championship."
It was the second podium result of the season for Pruett and Rojas as co-drivers, and was the third podium of the season overall for Pruett and the No. 01 team. Pruett co-drove the No. 01 machine to the victory in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona with Juan Pablo Montoya and Salvador Duran, while Rojas shared the team's No. 02 Target/TELMEX Lexus Riley with IndyCar champions Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon. It was also a career-best Rolex Series result for Rojas, eclipsing his previous best run of third at Homestead-Miami Speedway in March.
"I'm very happy," Rojas said. "I want to congratulate the team and Scott for an awesome job this weekend. The qualifying was pretty close. It was very hard to pass on this race track. We had to be smart with our decisions and keep the car on the track, and hopefully everything would work out well for us. I did the first half of the race, and then Scott got in and did an awesome job. We got Scott the points lead back and I'm very happy for the entire TELMEX team."
Oswaldo Negri Jr. and Mark Patterson completed the podium with a third-place run aboard the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Lexus Riley. Patterson drove the early portion of the race before handing off to Negri, who brought the team its first podium result since he and Patterson claimed the victory in the 2006 Rolex Series season finale at Miller Motorsports Park. Their run from 12th on the starting grid to third at the finish also netted the teammates the "SunTrust Improve Your Position Award."
"The car was very good," said Negri. "We studied our strategy hard. We had many different ideas, and stuck with what we thought would be the right stuff. This is an extremely hard track to pass. I had to be very precise on the passes, not banging around and off everybody. I just feel very, very happy."
"It's good to be back here," added Patterson. "To be up here with these top guys here is pretty cool. This was a great race, and it started very fast. There could have been a mess in Turn 1 there on the first lap, but everybody was pretty tidy, so it's kind of cool."
No. 58 Red Bull/Brumos Racing Porsche Riley co-drivers Darren Law and David Donohue continued their recent run of success with a fourth-place outing in the U.S. Sports Car Invitational delivered by Luggage Express. Law and Donohue also finished third in the VIR 400 last month and have now finished inside the top six in four consecutive races.
Ryan Dalziel and Patrick Carpentier filled out the top five with a fifth-place showing in the No. 11 CITGO/SAMAX Pontiac Riley. Both Dalziel and Carpentier have now finished inside the top five in three 2007 Rolex Series events, topped by a second-place performance in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Fogarty led a race-high 38 laps in the No. 99 machine but clutch problems relegated him and Gurney to sixth place in the final rundown. John Pew and Ian James made it two Michael Shank Racing cars in the top 10 with a seventh-place run in the No. 6 Playboy Lexus Riley, while Colin Braun and Max Papis capped an eventful weekend with an eighth-place result in the No. 75 Krohn Racing Pontiac Riley. After running as high as third at one point, Burt Frisselle and Mark Wilkins wound up ninth in the No. 61 Exchange Traded Gold/AIM Autosport Lexus Riley, and Memo Gidley and Guy Cosmo completed the top 10 in the No. 77 Kodak/Doran Racing Ford Doran.
Christian Fittipaldi led 20 laps in the No. 39 Crown Royal Special Reserve/Cheever Racing Porsche Fabcar, but an off-course excursion by co-driver Harrison Brix contributed to an 11th-place performance. An off-course excursion by Angelelli was also to blame for a 15th-place result for him, Magnussen and the No. 10 SunTrust team.
With just a few drops of fuel left in his tank, defending Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve GT champion Andy Lally delivered the TRG team a home state victory in Saturday's U.S. Sports Car Invitational delivered by Luggage Express, leading TRG teammate Daniel DiLeo in a 1-2 finish under caution in the two-and-a-half hour, 92-lap race. Cautiously working his way through the field all afternoon, Lally chased Kelly Collins around the 2.238-mile, 11-turn track for several laps before getting by Collins in Turn 5 on Lap 90. Fortunately for Lally, he was able to save a little bit of fuel as a caution came out moments after he passed Collins when Andrew Davis spun the No. 72 Tafel Racing Porsche GT3 in Turn 11, forcing the last of four caution periods.
Officials could not get the track cleaned up in the time remaining to go back to green flag conditions, giving Lally--and his co-driver RJ Valentine in the No. 66 TRG CRG/Maxter/Rotax Porsche GT3--the victory over DiLeo and his co-driver, Ross Smith, in the No. 65 TRG Maxwell Paper Products Co. Porsche GT3. Lally and Valentine also picked up the "SunTrust Improve Your Position Award" after moving up 15 spots from the 16th-place starting position. The event marked the first GT class team 1-2 finish of the 2007 season, and the team's first 1-2 since last year at Lime Rock Park.
"It is a huge deal," said Lally, whose only lead came in the final three laps of the event. He was also the final of nine drivers and nine lead changes, and did not stop during the final 66 laps. "The really cool thing is, this is my first win here. I've had two second-place finishes in Rolex and I had a third-place finish here in Barber Dodge a long, long time ago. I just mentioned to (team owner) Kevin (Buckler), we've got two seconds and a third, and we really need a win here. It was wonderful to come through. It's one of those things where it clicked just right, and our guys just did an awesome job. I've got to thank RJ, my engineer and Kevin for the three of them getting together and helping me build a real good car this weekend. I've got to say the handling was just unbelievable. I've also got to thank the guys who raced me clean, because the last three guys that we picked off were all very much gentlemen, and nobody was trying to cut my nose off."
"It's obviously a privilege at my age," added Valentine, who helped the pair scored its second podium in three races. "You begin to wonder, 'The older you get, the faster you was.' Having Andy as a teammate is a real privilege. To have the guys around me with TRG and all the group of people that prepare the car, sometimes it looks easy just driving. The reality is, you can't drive something if it's not set up properly."
Lally ran up front all day, breaking into the top five shortly after taking over the car during the first 15 laps of the race. He also didn't drop too far from the leaders after his second stop on Lap 36, returning to the track in ninth. Lally then quietly worked his way into the top five with patience. He used passes on Lap 61 (Jean-Francois Dumoulin) to take sixth and Lap 73 (DiLeo) to take fifth. Then, he reaped the benefits of late pit stops from two drivers, and made a daring inside pass on Collins for the victory. The win put Lally and Valentine into a ninth-place tie in the latest point standings.
DiLeo took over the reigns of the No. 65 machine early in the event, after Smith had an adventurous start. Smith entered the race in 13th but stayed out when many drivers pitted during an early caution when debris was found on the track. He ran as high as fifth before falling back to seventh on Lap 10, and was nearly involved in a collision before handing the car off to DiLeo during the mandatory pit stop, scheduled within the race's first 45 minutes.
Several one-car spins, slide-offs and an incentive kept the team in contention. DiLeo fell a lap down on Lap 37 before officials waved him by, as he earned the first chance award for being the top running lapped car. DiLeo then played the same game as Lally, patiently waiting for the right time to pounce.
DiLeo ran fifth as late as Lap 73 before Lally passed him. He then watched as several competitors fell out of contention for the victory, and evened his front wheels with Lally's rear wheels as the pair crossed under the checkered flags.
"It's a great feeling," DiLeo said. "To do this in our second start is definitely an accomplishment. We came in this weekend and, like the trend has been, every time we get in this car, Ross and I get a little quicker. To be second in our second start, I don't think it's too shabby. To do it on such a great track like Laguna Seca with one of my best friends here beside me is a special feeling. I've got to give a lot of credit to everybody that makes TRG. It's a first class organization. To have teammates like the guys here goes a long way. You look to Andy Lally as a veteran and learn with him in the limited time that you've got. Again, I appreciate everything that's happened. To consider that when I got in the car, we were a lap down, and they say in sports car racing, I guess, 'It's never over 'til it's over,' and I finally experienced it. It's a great feeling and hopefully the first podium of many."
"We started out in the race with a phenomenal car," Smith added. "It was very, very good. It took a little while to get the tires up to temp, but once they set in, the car was just phenomenal. There's no other way to describe it. I charged a little hard early and I was running up to fifth at one point, but I went off and we ended up going a lap down. I guess I went against team orders. I came in when I was supposed to, but it related, and we ended up getting the 'Lucky Dog' because of it. In one theory it's bad, but in the other theory, we got the 'Lucky Dog' and got the lap back and we got on the podium. This is the best feeling to me. Dan did a great job, as did our whole team, TRG, and Maxwell Paper Products funding the car. Without Maxwell, we definitely wouldn't be here. We had no money to do it. Everybody did a great job and I compliment all of it."
The race was also special for TRG owner Buckler, a former resident of Monterey, Calif. and whose shop is now headquartered not far away in Petaluma, Calif. TRG put four cars on Saturday's grid, and the other two cars finished 12th and 14th.
"Special is an understatement," Buckler said. "When my wife, Debra, and I moved here from the Midwest, we moved here to Monterey. We lived here for almost four years, right across the street in those hills. We started our company here in our garage, and I did some of my very first racing here ever. I love this place, so from that side, it's special. I love coming here; I couldn't be more proud.
"Dan and Ross did a great job. They used good judgment, they're good drivers, and there's a good future with these guys. RJ and Andy also did a great job, and the 1-2 thing, you dream about this. I mean, finishing 1-2, to me, that's dominance. We did it several times with the Pontiacs and we also had a really special 1-2 at Watkins Glen in our Daytona Prototypes when we came out our first year, but this was a hard-fought one. This might be the best of all, because we've really worked hard on bringing these Porsches up to speed and getting all the tricks back in our toolbox. We've got them. The team did a great job, too. The pit stops and the strategy were just flawless. We didn't make any mistakes and that's what you have to do with this competitive of a field, so we're happy."
As has been the case nearly the entire season, the Farnbacher Loles Motorsports two-car team dominated the race after the first round of pit stops. Coming in with top cars which have led more than half of the laps contested in GT class competition this season, Craig Stanton put the No. 85 Shoes for Crews/Recaro Porsche GT3 out front for several laps again Saturday, as the car sat atop the results for 33 laps, and led by as many as seven seconds.
However, Stanton didn't make his scheduled pit stop and driver change until Lap 77, with less than 30 minutes left in the timed race. His crew feverishly changed tires and put enough fuel to get co-driver Leh Keen back into the race, but he reentered the race in 10th, with many of the other teams ahead of him no longer in need of a stop. The duo was scored as sixth at the finish.
Teammate Dirk Werner--who along with co-driver Bryce Miller in the No. 87 Farnbacher Loles Motorsports Marquis Jet/IPC Porsche GT3 scored the last race victory last month at Virginia International Raceway--inherited the lead, and was nearly 10 seconds ahead of Collins before he too needed to stop for a splash of fuel. That stop--which added a couple seconds when Werner locked up the wheels and spun while making the turn in the pits--enabled Collins to regain the lead for the No. 07 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R, but his mirrors were full of Lally's No. 66 until the Dacula, Ga. driver made the winning pass.
Werner dropped to fifth during the short stop and managed to get by Collins and Drew Staveley in the No. 30 Racers Edge Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R before the checkered flag flew, giving himself and Miller their third straight podium finish after leading five laps near the end.
"After the race in Daytona, we had a big gap because our engine blew, so for us, the most important thing is just to collect points," Werner said. "Every time we are in front of the Mazdas, the championship gets closer. We are here to win the championship, so that's our aim. I think this race here was really the hardest one we've had. We got 75 pounds extra and an air restrictor, and this was one point we really struggled with. The other thing is, this race had the most incidents up to now. I had contact with the Mazdas, the (No.) 70 car as well as the (No.) 69 car. The car had a little problem with the toe because of the contact in the first lap, so it was really difficult to drive it. I think the key to our success here was the great work of the pit crew. They did very good work. In the end, I'm very confident with the race."
"It's a great feeling to be back on the podium," Miller contributed. "The Farnbacher Loles team just gave us such a great car coming here. We showed up for the first practice session with such a good baseline. Unfortunately, we had some contact in the opening lap (of the race), which knocked the right front toe out. It was a little bit difficult to drive, but we were still able to drive it all the way back from last to sixth. I think that if that contact did not happen, we may have been looking at victory here today. Still, all things considered, we feel really great about today's result, considering everything that happened. It's a good feeling."
The No. 07 machine led more laps (35) than any other car, with Paul Edwards pacing the field for 27 of them. Edwards led from Lap 5 until 25, when he made the mandatory pit stop, and again from Laps 38 to 43, when he pulled in to give Collins the wheel. Collins gained the lead back when Werner stopped, and held off Lally as best he could until Lap 90. After Lally got by, Collins brought the car in the pits for fuel, and he dropped to fourth--where the team started--by the checkered flag.
No. 30 co-drivers James Gue and Staveley spent much of their day in the top 10, and were rewarded with a fifth-place finish after starting seventh. Gue pitted within the 45-minute mark after running as high as second, and turned the car over to Staveley just before the halfway point of the race. Staveley stayed in the top 10 the rest of the way, and also accepted the late-race pit stops by others as benefits, leading the team to its highest finish of the season by far. Their best finish heading into the race was a 15th-place result at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Points co-leaders Sylvain Tremblay and Nick Ham were also frontrunners for nearly two-thirds of the race, with Ham leading early and Tremblay working his way to the front, trying to run down Stanton. After a long battle with Werner, the two touched on Lap 53 in Turn 2. Tremblay never challenged for the spot again and fell to seventh at the checkered flag.
However, the duo still holds a 12-point advantage (152-140) over Werner, heading into the May 28 Grand-Am GT Classic at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn. Edwards and Collins are tied for fourth at 135 points.
For the second consecutive Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve GT class qualifying session at Lime Rock Park, German racer Wolf Henzler was the fastest qualifier and will start from the pole position in Monday's Grand-Am GT Classic (SPEED, 3 p.m. ET).
Driving the No. 74 Rembrandt Charms Porsche GT3 for Tafel Racing, Henzler broke his own Rolex Series GT qualifying track record by more than a second-and-a-half with a lap at 53.925 seconds (102.142 mph) to secure his first pole of the season and the sixth of his Rolex Series career. Henzler and co-driver Eric Lux are still looking for their first victory of the season.
"It took us a lot to get on pole," said Henzler. "It was very, very close to the Mazda. We already saw in the practice this morning that there were five or six cars within one tenth of a second, and we also were very close. What I needed for the pole was just a very, very good lap with no mistakes and this is what I did on my fourth lap. It was just a perfect lap. The team and the mechanics made some small changes to the car, which were very good. They just gave me a car to get on pole. Everything needed to be 100 percent to get on pole because it's such a hard competition. On Monday, we need more luck than at VIR and Laguna that nobody runs into my car and hits us or spins us out of the race. The other thing is good strategy and good pit stops, which I think we will do. The team is very good now."
Starting alongside Henzler on the front row will be Rolex Series GT points co-leader Nick Ham in the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/Mazda RX-8 for SpeedSource. Ham clocked a best lap at 53.929 seconds (102.134 mph), missing the pole position by just four-thousandths of a second. Nevertheless, it was the fifth consecutive front-row qualifying performance for the No. 70 machine and the car has not started outside of the GT top-three in any of the six races this season. Henzler and co-driver Sylvain Tremblay look to extend their lead in the point standings with another victory in Monday's race, which would be the team's third of the season.
"It was just a really good lap," Ham said. "It was just a qualifying lap. Thanks to all the team for giving me a car that was just really fast. We worked every session on trying to improve, trying to make it more drivable and the Hoosier sticker tires were just fantastic. Our RX-8 is a great car. It really likes this circuit. It's not a really powerful car, but this is a momentum track and it just flies around here. It's a really good track for us. We just need patience and, hopefully, waiting for the race to come back to us. My job is to just stay out of trouble and give Sylvain a car that he can take to the checkered flag. It's just being careful. We still have the points lead, so we don't have to take any chances. Hopefully, it'll be a tire wear issue like some of the other tracks, so the race will come back to us."
Kelly Collins qualified third in the No. 07 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R with a lap at 54.005 seconds (101.991 mph). Collins and co-driver Paul Edwards have finished inside the class top four in three of five starts this season, but are still looking to bring the Pontiac GXP.R and the Banner Racing team their first victories in Rolex Series competition. Collins and Edwards finished second last year in a Pontiac GTO.R for TRG.
"We had a great car right off of the trailer," Collins said. "The first practice I was really pumped for the weekend. Maybe we dialed ourselves out a little. I gave it all I had in qualifying, taking the car in deep and flying down through the last turn. It was the first time we put on new sneakers [tires] all weekend so I wasn't quite sure how far I could take it. We do know that we have a great car on used tires and that will definitely benefit us in the race on Monday."
Leighton Reese made it a second-row sweep for Banner Racing with a lap at 53.059 seconds (101.889 mph) in the No. 06 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R. Reese and co-driver Tim Lewis Jr. are also searching for their first Rolex Series GT victory and are looking to improve upon their previous season best result of fourth in the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.
Drew Staveley ensured that the three Pontiac GXP.Rs in the field will start inside the top five with a fifth-best qualifying result in the No. 30 Racers Edge Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R. Staveley posted a best lap at 54.306 seconds (101.425 mph) in the car he is sharing with co-driver Mark Pavan. Staveley and Pavan finished fifth in last weekend's U.S. Sports Car Invitational presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve, which was Staveley's first start of the season and the third of the year for Pavan. The top-nine qualifiers posted laps within one second of Henzler's pole-winning time.
